Lucas v. Arkansas (1974)

A North Little Rock, Arkansas, police officer was on patrol when individuals made derogatory comments to him, resulting in arrest and convictions for breach of the peace. The Supreme Court in the 1974 case Lucas v. Arkansas vacated the convictions, and remanded the case in light of its rulings about overly broad breach of beach laws. (Photo of Little Rock patrol car by Little Rock Police via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0)

Individuals arrested for making derogatory comments to a policeman

In Lucas, individuals had been arrested and convicted for breach of the peace after directing several derogatory comments to a North Little Rock, Arkansas, policeman who was on routine patrol.

The Supreme Court of Arkansas confirmed the convictions.

Supreme Court vacates convictions, sends it back to state for more consideration

The U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari, vacated the state’s judgment, and remanded the case for further consideration.

Justice Harry A. Blackmun, joined by Chief Justice Warren E. Burger and Justice William H. Rehnquist, wrote a dissenting opinion.

Blackmun said that Arkansas had already narrowed its own statute to “fighting words,” which it defined as language that in “ordinary acceptation is calculated to give offense and to arouse to anger.” Blackmun believed that the state could properly punish “language which in its ordinary acceptation is calculated to cause a breach of the peace.”

Douglas’s dissent, which applied to all four cases, favored overturning all the convictions on the basis that the laws under which they were justified were overly broad by including speech that was merely “vulgar” or “profane” along with genuine fighting words.